Locals were seen flouting social isolation directives yesterday as they went about purchasing essential items at the city’s kitchen markets.  Visits to the Amanatganj, Taltali, and Palashpur areas in the northern region, Rupatali in the south, and Kashipur in the west revealed that people were crowding outside grocery shops and in kitchen markets.

“Some were roaming freely on the roads, gossiping, or gathering news,” said freedom fighter Enayet Hossain Chowdhury, member secretary of Nagorik Parishad.

 “Law enforcement agencies are mostly patrolling the city’s main roads. They are avoiding narrower lanes and alleys where people are freely moving outside their homes,” he added.

 Meanwhile, the city’s Divisional Health Director Basudev Kumar Das mentioned that 2,935 residents have been placed under home quarantine, while 2,040 have been released after their respective quarantine periods across the six districts of Barishal division.

Three patients have also been released from the isolation unit of Barguna General Hospital, he said.

 Sher-E-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH) Director Dr Barir Hossain said three patients are still being treated at the hospital’s isolation unit. The hospital received 1,000 units of personal protective equipment (PPEs) last week which were distributed among on-duty doctors, nurses, and other staff, he added.

 A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine is currently being set up on the SBMCH premises. The device will be used to test for COVID-19 infections at the hospital’s microbiology and virology departments.

 The SBMCH director said that the machine and testing kits reached the hospital on March 30. But more than a week will be needed to complete setting up the machine, he added.

 Following installation of the PCR machine and training of staff to use it, testing will commence, he noted.

 “After testing begins here, there will be no need to send samples to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) testing lab to confirm a COVID-19 infection,” said Dr Jahangir Hossain, head of the department of microbiology and virology at SBMCH.